Synopsis: Miami
wine dealer Alex Gates plans to steal a diamond necklace worth $1
million from a wealthy family. He is having an affair with their illegal
immigrant nanny, Gabriela. Alex’s relationship with his wife Suzanne
and adult step-son Jason is falling apart. Aided by English safecracker
Victor, Alex steals the necklace. Jason gets romantically involved with
Gabriela. Alex hides the necklace in a suitcase. Before he can leave,
Alex gets into a fight with Suzanne. She beats him with a cane, knocking
Alex out.

Suzanne flees, taking Jason and the suitcase. Jason
finds the necklace and uses a stone from it to buy a fishing boat. Alex
and Victor pursue Suzanne and Jason. Suzanne dies in a car crash. Alex
murders his partner in crime. Jason has a final meeting with Alex and
Gabriela on the boat. Jason gives the necklace to Gabriela, who leaves.
Alex beats his step-son, but Jason uses the boat to crush Alex’s legs.
Gabriela returns and gives the necklace to Alex, keeping one diamond for
herself. Jason leaves in the boat while Gabriela drives away.
Approaching sirens are closing in …

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blood
and Wine started as a story written by director Bob Rafelson and Nick
Villiers. Rafelson had worked with Jack Nicholson on several previous
movies, most notably the Oscar-nominated Five Easy Pieces (1970). But he
never intended for Nicholson to appear in Blood and Wine. ‘I didn’t
have Jack in mind, I just had the idea for the script,’ the director
told Time Out in 1997. ‘I wanted to do it as a very low-budget movie and
I knew I couldn’t afford Jack. So I asked him, as a friend, to read
with other actors and tell me what he thought.’ Eventually Nicholson put
himself forward for the leading role.

Caine was semi-retired by
the mid-1990s. ‘I took a lot of time out and wrote my autobiography,’
he told Candis magazine in 2000. ‘I got lazy and I didn’t want to go
back to making movies. And then when I did, nobody knew who the hell I
was. I couldn’t get a job – not a good one, though I knew I could make
money by doing bad scripts. I’m sent a lot of those.’ Between 1993 and
1996 only one film featuring Caine got a cinema release – the Steven
Seagal vehicle On Deadly Ground (1994). ‘Finally I got Blood and Wine.
It was a movie I wasn’t ashamed of.’

‘If you’re an actor and you
don’t act for a long time you sort of think, I wonder if I can still do
it?’ Caine said during a public interview with Barry Norman at the
National Film Theatre (NFT) in 1998. Frustrated with the quality of film
scripts he was getting, Caine appeared in two historical TV projects as
Joseph Stalin and F W de Klerk to test his acting abilities. He was
nominated for an Emmy award for both performances. ‘Then I got Blood and
Wine … I did that as another little test.’ Caine had opened a
restaurant in Miami. Nicholson and Rafelson visited and asked Caine to
play safecracker Victor.

‘I’ve known them for 20, 30 years,’
Caine told Hello in 1999. ‘They walked into the restaurant one day and
said, “Well, you’re here. Do you want to be in the movie?” It wasn’t a
very big part, but Jack and I had never worked together, and I love
Bob’s work. So I agreed. And I had so much fun. Work became a joy
again.’ The $26 million film was shot on location in Florida.

Released
in the US during February 1997 with an R rating, Blood and Wine grossed
a disappointing $1 million. A month later it opened in Britain, rated
15. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but Caine’s
performance was widely praised. The picture’s biggest success was in
Spain, where it grossed nearly $1.4 million. Caine won the best actor
award at the San Sebastián Film Festival, despite only having a
supporting role. The film was released on VHS in the UK and US during
1997. The picture made its DVD debut in the US last year.

Reviews:
‘When you have two pros like Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine, can much
go wrong? Of course not. What the film lacks is any reason why we
should care for anyone in it’ - The Evening Standard‘Caine hasn’t
been as watchable for ages as the wheezing old crook… Everyone’s good,
but it’s less than the sum of its watchable parts’ – The Guardian

Verdict:
Blood and Wine would pass without much notice if it didn’t have such a
great cast. The film looks great, with Lorenc’s subtle score underlining
the ominous, downbeat mood. Caine is excellent, giving his best
performance for nearly a decade as the wheezing, flailing Victor. He
communicates the character’s desperation and fear through every gesture.
Sadly, he is the best thing about Blood and Wine. Polite and anaemic,
the film lacks the body or iron of its namesakes.